314 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



SEES PROSPERITY FOR BOISE FARMERS 



FE. WEYMOUTH, supervising engineer and 

 manager of the Boise (Idaho) Federal project, 

 cannot see anything but prosperity in store for the 

 project settlers this year. 



"I talked with one farmer," said Mr. Weymouth, 

 "who is clearing $75 an acre on a 21-acre field of po- 

 tatoes. A profit of more than $1,500 from a field of 

 that size is certainly a record that is not often dupli- 

 cated in an agricultural section stoch as this. This 

 man has his potato crop half harvested now, and it 

 is yielding close to 150 sacks an acre. He is getting 

 75 cents a hundred, so you see he is allowing more 



than $50 dollars an acre as the cost for growing the 

 potatoes. I don't think anyone will dispute that 

 this is a liberal allowance for production costs." 



Speaking of grain crops. Mr. Weymouth said : 

 "They told me of one farmer who has threshed 

 wheat that yielded 68 bushels to the acre. Several 

 others are getting yields of more than 60 bushels. 

 Farmers in this section told me they are getting 

 from $1.20 to $1.30 a hundred for their wheat now, 

 and if this is so, here is another instance of big re- 

 turns from comparatively low priced land." 



REFUSES TO CARRY WATER; FINED $500 



A DECISION which will attract the attention of 

 water users and irrigation companies all over the 

 West was handed down by Judge W. D. Wright of 

 Denver, at Fort Collins, Colo, recently, when he 

 fined the Water Supply & Storage Company $500 

 for contempt of court in failing to comply with an 

 order requiring the company to carry water for the 

 Weld Farms Company in one of its laterals. 



The Weld Farms Company's land lies east of 

 Pierce, Colo. The company had purchased some 

 24,000,000 feet of water from the Greeley-Poudre 

 Irrigation District, this water being stored in Doug- 

 las reservoir, some six miles north of Fort Collins. 

 The Weld Farms Company desired to transmit this 

 water to their land through the Pierce lateral, a 

 ditch belonging to the Water Supply and Storage 

 Company, but the latter company refused to carry 

 the water on the ground that it was not a common 

 carrier. 



The Weld company then went into court and, 

 pleading as a basis a statute which provides that 

 any private ditch or canal may be enlarged or used 

 for the carrying of the water of another, provided 

 the expenses of such enlargement or use are defrayed 

 by the party benefiting from same, got an order re- 

 quiring the Water Supply and Storage Company to 

 carry their water. 



The contempt proceedings resulted when the 

 Water Supply Company still refused to carry the 

 water. 



MAKES FARMER INDEPENDENT 



In former years the county or state fair was the 

 big day of the year in farming communities, but in 

 this day those events pale into insignificance in com- 

 parison with tractor demonstration day that is be- 

 coming quite popular throughout the country. On 

 these occasions tens of thousands of people come, 

 not only from the state in which the demonstration 

 is held, but also from adjoining states. 



At first the farmer was loath to see the faithful 



old horse supplanted, but as he comes to understand 

 more fully the real value of the tractor, he regards 

 it as a friend and assistant to the horse, which it 

 relieves of that monotonous and slavish work which 

 can be performed by an inanimate object even better 

 than it can be done by the proud horse, which can 

 be utilized in a far more profitable way. 



The chief advantage of the tractor is that it 

 gives more power when you want it and where you 

 want it. It enables the farmer, during the short 

 period that the soil is in good condition, to get his 

 plowing done at the right season, before the ground 

 gets too hard. It also enables him to plow his 

 ground at a greater depth than he otherwise could, 

 and this feature often adds several bushels per acre 

 to the yield. 



Another important feature is the fact that the 

 farmer, with the small tractor, is enabled to do prac- 

 tically all his own plowing, and is not dependent 

 upon hired men. 



BUY $3,500,000 PROJECT 



One of the largest private irrigation systems in 

 the United States has just passed into the hands of 

 John T. Beamer of Chicago and associates. The 

 transaction involved the sale by the American-Rio 

 Grande Land Irrigation Company, near Mercedes, 

 Tex., of its large pumping plant, canal and ditch 

 system and 100,000 acres of land. The consideration 

 was $3,500.000. 



It is reported that a cash payment of $1,000,000 

 was made by Mr. Beamer. The American-Rio 

 Grande Land & Irrigation Company was organized 

 about ten years ago by B. F. Yoakum of New York, 

 head of the Frisco Railroad, and a number of wealthy 

 St. Louis men. 



It is the purpose of Mr. Beamer to greatly ex- 

 tend the canal and ditch system and to make the 

 property a producer of various kinds of crops. The 

 whole 100,000 acres will be brought under irrigation 

 and cultivation. 



